By The Spider
December 15 2003

Saturday, 13th December, 2003 Peterhead 4 Queen's Park 1 (Bells Scottish League – Third Division)

One thing that really annoys most fans, whatever team they support, is bad refereeing but even worse than that is inconsistent refereeing, and there can be few worse exponents of that practice than Brian Cassidy who seems to be universally despised judging by the comments about him that have appeared on many websites during the last few seasons.

Lest anyone suggests that the aforementioned Mr.Cassidy was the reason for Queen's defeat on Saturday, it should quickly be confirmed that he most definitely wasn't, but it defies belief that Peterhead managed to go through the entire 90 minutes with only one of their players being booked.

Queen's were decimated by injuries and illness for this fixture, and the squad that travelled north looked (on paper at any rate) to be the weakest that Kenny Brannigan has assembled all season.

The opening exchanges were tame in comparison to previous encounters at this venue, and the only piece of noteworthy early action was when Derek Scrimgour saved a Raeside header.

Queen's responded three minutes later when the ball fell kindly for Stuart Kettlewell at close range, but his shot was blocked and the ball could only squirm goalwards before being cleared.

In the 21st minute, and much to the wrath of Kenny Brannigan who was raging at the player's stupidity, Stevie Reilly got his customary booking for diving in for a ball that was never his to be won, and this just a few minutes after an earlier previous offence.

Frankie Carroll came close on the half hour mark with a shot on the turn that wasn't too far away, before Johnston hooked over from close range two minutes later.

The game exploded to life in the 34th minute when Jonny Whelan, despite having previous been instructed by Kenny Brannigan not to do so, elected to send his 3rd dangerous pass-back of the afternoon to Derek Scrimgour who quickly had Johnston breathing down his neck. Scrimmy could, and should, have played the ball away for a throw-in or corner with safety first in mind, but he made an equally bad decision to try to improve the situation by dribbling past Johnston and in doing so only made the situation even worse. The ball got stuck under his foot and when Johnston nicked it off him, Derek clumsily impeded the home striker as both players stretched for the loose ball. It was probably more obstruction than a deliberate attempt to trip Johnston but, either way, Scrimgour could really have no complaint at either the award of a penalty or his subsequent "last man" dismissal by Brian Cassidy who was correctly applying the laws of the game. Derek was clearly very upset as he left the field, but not with the referee, and Jonny Whelan was left in no doubt as to whom Scrimgour felt the blame should be apportioned.

What a baptism of fire therefore for young U-18 'keeper David Crawford who has been occupying the injured Brian McCue's place on the bench of late. Two minutes after the original offence had been committed, he found himself making his debut at the expense of Stephen Canning (Frankie Carroll went to right wing back) and facing a penalty kick. Although Martin Johnston did manage to score from the award, the young 'keeper was very unlikely not to save the striker's effort as the ball deflected off his left wrist up into the roof of the net when it could so easily have missed the top corner.

It was important that Queen's now steady the ship, but within two minutes they were further behind. A quick breakaway up the left wing saw the ball reach Martin Bavidge, and although the gangly midfielder looked to have over-played the ball as he made his way towards the edge of the Queen's area, he somehow managed to stretch for the ball before any of the three defenders in his close proximity could reach it, and he fairly thrashed the ball high beyond David Crawford and into the back of the net.

Now believing the job to be done, Peterhead took their foot off the gas at this point and, other than when McKay dragged a shot wide of the target, Queen's were allowed the luxury of the interval to re-group. Before that however, Danny Ferry embarked on a mazy dribble from deep in his own half to run through the centre of Peterhead's defence only to be upended by a deliberate trip from Raeside who was unaware that Perry was covering behind him. It should be beyond dispute that such an offence is worthy of a yellow card, but referee Cassidy seems to believe that he is entitled to ignore official guidelines, and it is his desire to rule with impunity that makes him such a loose cannon as more and more teams are now discovering.

As would be expected, Peterhead came out with all guns blazing upon the resumption and Johnston nearly made it three in the 48th minute when his spectacular long range effort rebounded from the crossbar with Crawford well beaten. At this stage the youngster had barely played 10 minutes of Third Division football, had lost two goals and nearly a third without having a save to make, and so he could have been excused had his game gone to pieces at this stage.

Instead, and to his eternal credit, the reverse happened. He made a great diving save to hold a high shot from McKay, and then showed tremendous reflexes to tip a Johnston shot on the turn over the bar. These two saves were a turning point and, as Peterhead's initial burst of activity fizzled out, waves of confidence swept through the Queen's ranks and the visitors began to exert some pressure of their own.

Frankie Carroll forced a save from Mathers with a direct free kick in the 56th minute, before The Spiders pulled one back six minutes later. For once, Paul Harvey decided to play a forward pass and his chip to the back post was expertly headed back across Mathers into the far corner by Ally Graham.

Peterhead immediately tried to restore their two goal advantage, but once again they were denied by David Crawford who dived low to his right to push McKay's low shot away for a corner. Queen's one chance to equalise came in the 70th minute, but Stuart Kettlewell was unable to keep his low drive on target.

It was Crawford to the rescue once more in the 72nd minute when he dived low to grasp a Johnston downwards header, but even he had to admit defeat in the 79th minute when Martin Johnston was totally unmarked in front of goal to bullet a left wing cross home.

There was a rather ugly incident two minutes later when Tindal went right through Stevie Reilly with a vicious tackle from behind. It could have been red, but Cassidy elected to show the Peterhead midfielder a paler shade, which would have been fine had he adopted a similar stance later.

Frankie Carroll had a close range shot saved in the 82nd minute, but Peterhead went even further ahead four minutes later when Robbie Raeside somehow managed to squeeze a far post header over the line.

Controversy and Cassidy renewed their seemingly inseparable relationship once again in the final minute. Frankie Carroll sent Roddie flying with a late tackle out on the touchline as the winger sped by him. Even though it was Frankie's first foul of the game, and yes it was a bad one, it was certainly no worse than Tindal's earlier assault on Stevie Reilly so again it was inconsistent refereeing when Frankie was dismissed by the hapless official.

As mentioned at the beginning, Cassidy's decisions had no bearing on the final outcome of this game as, although they struggled for long periods, Peterhead were worthy of their win despite being far less of a force than last season.

Without a fixture next Saturday, Queen's now have an opportunity to re-group and hopefully their injury position will improve in time for their next game at home to Stranraer on 27th December. If it doesn't, then with Reilly a major doubt and with both Scrimgour and Carroll automatically ineligible, Kenny Brannigan would have to put out one of the most inexperienced teams that Queen's have ever fielded.

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE : 3/5

STAR SPIDER :  David Crawford (deserves the chance to play in the next match)

QUEEN’S PARK : Derek Scrimgour, Danny Ferry,  Richard Sinclair, Jonny Whelan, Stevie Reilly (Ross Conlin - 85), Stephen Canning (David Crawford - 36), Stuart Kettlewell, Paul Harvey, Ally Graham, Frankie Carroll, Stevie McAuley (Paddy Gallagher - 58)

Subs (not used) : Andy McGinty, John Thomson

Scorer(s) : Graham (62)

Booked : Reilly (21 - late tackle)           Red Card : Scrimgour (36 - professional foul), Carroll (90 - very late tackle)

PETERHEAD : Paul Mathers, Darren Smith, Shaun McSkimming, Robbie Raeside, Mark Perry, Ian Good (Keiran McGuiness), Kevin Tindal, Stuart McKay, Martin Johnston, Martin Bavidge, (Iain Stewart - 65), Andy Roddie

Subs (not used) : John Farquhar (G/K), Kevin Bain, Robert Duncan

Scorer(s) : Johnston (36, 79) Bavidge (38), Raeside (86)

Booked : Tindal (81 - bad tackle from behind)

REFEREE : Brian Cassidy **  (* = inept, ** = poor, *** = mediocre, **** = good, ***** = excellent)